Alpheids from Onotoa — BANNER 
165 
but it still remains a sharp ridge on the an- 
terior portion of the rostrum; the dactylus 
retains only a trace of the hook, the superior 
ridge is well developed, and the "hoof” is 
developing; the last spines of the propodus 
are thickening, but remain acute. Finally, in 
the 16.2 mm. specimen, the rostral carina is 
flattened to the tip of the rostrum, but still 
not as broad as in the full-sized adults; the 
dactylus has the structure and proportions of 
the adult; the last spines of the propodus are 
broad, distally rounded, but are not yet ex- 
cavate on the tips, as are found in the mature 
specimens. 
This easily recognizable species, possibly 
one of the most distinctive species of the 
genus, appears to have had at least four names 
applied to it: A. lottini Guerin, 1826-1830 
(by Stebbing and Barnard, see below); A. 
ventrosus H. Milne-Edwards, 1837; A. laevis 
Randall, 1839; and finally, as discussed above, 
A. latipes (Banner), 1953. Unfortunately the 
three early names were published with short 
and generalized descriptions; only the first 
description carried a figure, and this figure 
appears to have been inaccurate. 
The type specimen of Randall for A. laevis 
probably is lost with the rest of the early 
types at the Philadelphia Academy of Science, 
but there is only one species from Hawaii, 
the type locality, that meets the qualifications 
of his description including that of size 
("length about Wi inches”). This species is 
the one now known as A. ventrosus (see Ban- 
ner, 1953: 84, fig. 28). 
The type of Milne-Edwards has never been 
formally redescribed, but its characteristics 
are known. In Les Alpheidae (1899) Coutiere 
discusses and figures specimens that he iden- 
tifies as A. laevis Randall (figs. 54, 201, 251, 
263, 307, 324, 325), a form plainly identical 
with the species from the Hawaiian Islands 
that has been known as either A. laevis or A. 
Fig. 4. Alpheus ventrosus Milne-Edwards, to show 
developmental stages in the form of the rostrum and 
dactylus of third legs, a , An 8 mm. specimen; b , a 9.7 
mm. specimen; c, a 10.8 mm. specimen; d, a 15.4 mm. 
specimen; e , a 16.2 mm. specimen; a-d, from Onotoa, 
e, from Saipan; carapaces and dactyli with separate 
scales. (Note: Dactyli are in differing rotation.) 
